Look at them, strolling off to pastures new…

It feels as though we’ve posted this picture a dozen times in news pieces over the past two years, but this may well be the last: we’re terrifically excited to announce that Rough Trade records have signed our very own Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker!

The duo, who are co-founders of Folkroom Records and who put out an EP, an album and a vinyl-edition of their Navigator Records debut in their time on the Folkroom label, have been working tirelessly for years. This, we hope, is the beginning of the rewards for that labour.

But let’s not kid ourselves, Ben and Josienne have been garnering love and admiration from folk fans for years now, and brought no end of respectability to our little label as they went. Their 2015 Folk Award for Best Duo was only a hint at the impact they’ve yet to make on this music scene, and we’re ecstatic that Rough Trade have chosen to be the ones to take them to the next level!

What does this mean for Folkroom? Well, we’re taking a little break from the record label side of things. Taking stock, and seeing where things take us. Ben Walker has been a huge part of everything we’ve done, not least through his work as producer on all but two of our releases, and we have an inkling he’s going to be a little busier for the foreseeable future.

So as Ben and Josienne leave us, we’re going back to our roots – 2016 is going to be a big year for Folkroom gigs (we have SIX coming up before the end of March alone!). We’re going to continue bringing you all the very best music we can find, and we’re going to make a special effort to pack as many treats into the year as we can for you, with surprise sets and special tributes. And, of course, our Fortnightly gigs will march on – when time allows him, our dear friend and co-founder Ben can still be spotted tucked away in the corner working sound for us!

Congratulations Ben and Josienne – we can’t wait to see what you do next!